Portal:Mammals
The Mammals portalA mammal (from Latin mamma 'breast') is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (/məˈmeɪli.ə/). Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 29 orders. The largest orders of mammals, by number of species, are the rodents, bats, and Eulipotyphla (including hedgehogs, moles and shrews). The next three are the primates (including humans, monkeys and lemurs), the even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, and whales), and the Carnivora (including cats, dogs, and seals). Mammals are the only living members of Synapsida; this clade, together with Sauropsida (reptiles and birds), constitutes the larger Amniota clade. Early synapsids are referred to as "pelycosaurs". The more advanced therapsids became dominant during the Middle Permian. Mammals originated from cynodonts, an advanced group of therapsids, during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic. Mammals achieved their modern diversity in the Paleogene and Neogene periods of the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, and have been the dominant terrestrial animal group from 66 million years ago to the present. The basic mammalian body type is quadruped, and most mammals use their four extremities for terrestrial locomotion; but in some, the extremities are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in trees, underground, or on two legs. Cetaceans and sirenians have lost their hind limbs. Mammals range in size from the 30–40 mm (1.2–1.6 in) bumblebee bat to the 30 m (98 ft) blue whale—possibly the largest animal to have ever lived. Maximum lifespan varies from two years for the shrew to 211 years for the bowhead whale. All modern mammals give birth to live young, except the five species of monotremes, which are egg-laying mammals. The most species-rich group of mammals, the infraclass called placentals, have a placenta, which enables the feeding of the fetus during gestation. Most mammals are intelligent, with some possessing large brains, self-awareness, and tool use. Mammals can communicate and vocalize in several ways, including the production of ultrasound, scent-marking, alarm signals, singing, echolocation; and, in the case of humans, complex language. Mammals can organize themselves into fission–fusion societies, harems, and hierarchies—but can also be solitary and territorial. Most mammals are polygynous, but some can be monogamous or polyandrous. Domestication of many types of mammals by humans played a major role in the Neolithic Revolution, and resulted in farming replacing hunting and gathering as the primary source of food for humans. This led to a major restructuring of human societies from nomadic to sedentary, with more co-operation among larger and larger groups, and ultimately the development of the first civilizations. Domesticated mammals provided, and continue to provide, power for transport and agriculture, as well as food (meat and dairy products), fur, and leather. Mammals are also hunted and raced for sport, kept as pets and working animals of various types, and are used as model organisms in science. Mammals have been depicted in art since Paleolithic times, and appear in literature, film, mythology, and religion. Decline in numbers and extinction of many mammals is primarily driven by human poaching and habitat destruction, primarily deforestation. (Full article...) Selected article
Elephants (Elephantidae) are a family in the order Proboscidea in the class Mammalia. They were once classified along with other thick skinned animals in a now invalid order, Pachydermata. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant (until recently known collectively as the African Elephant), and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant). Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, the Mammoth being the most well-known of these. Elephants are mammals, and the largest land animals alive today. The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (265 lb). An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kg (26,400 lb), with a shoulder height of 4.2 m (13.8 ft), a metre (3 ft 4 in) taller than the average male African elephant. The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch. Elephants are symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures, and are famed for their memory and high intelligence, and are thought to be on par with cetaceans. Aristotle once said the elephant was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind."
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Featured articles
- Alcathoe bat
- Alpine ibex
- Ambondro mahabo
- Ambulocetus
- Baleen whale
- Bat
- Beaver
- Bharattherium
- Blue whale
- Bluebuck
- Bobcat
- Camas pocket gopher
- Canada lynx
- Catopsbaatar
- Columbian mammoth
- Cougar
- Cryptoprocta spelea
- Dermotherium
- Dire wolf
- Durrell's vontsira
- Elephant
- Elk
- Escalera's bat
- European hare
- Evolution of lemurs
- Ferugliotheriidae
- Ferugliotherium
- Flocke
- Fossa (animal)
- Giant anteater
- Giant eland
- Giant otter
- Giraffe
- Golden jackal
- Hartebeest
- Hippopotamus
- Homo antecessor
- Horseshoe bat
- Humpback whale
- Impala
- Jaguar
- Javan rhinoceros
- Knut (polar bear)
- Koala
- Lavanify
- Lion
- Livyatan
- Marcus Ward Lyon Jr.
- Meerkat Manor
- Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins
- Megabat
- Miniopterus aelleni
- Miniopterus griveaudi
- North Ronaldsay sheep
- Orca
- Paraceratherium
- Pennatomys
- Pinniped
- Pipistrellus raceyi
- Platypus
- Plesiorycteropus
- Polar bear
- Primate
- Pygmy hippopotamus
- Quagga
- Raccoon
- Red panda
- Right whale
- Rodent
- Sea mink
- Sea otter
- Sheep
- Short-beaked echidna
- Smilodon
- South Asian river dolphin
- Springbok
- Steller's sea cow
- Sumatran rhinoceros
- Tammar wallaby
- Tasmanian devil
- Taxonomy of lemurs
- Thylacine
- Tiger
- Transandinomys
- Triaenops menamena
- Wolf
- Woolly mammoth
- Zebra
Featured lists
- List of cetaceans
- List of mammals of Florida
- List of afrosoricids
- List of artiodactyls
- List of bovids
- List of canids
- List of carnivorans
- List of cercopithecoids
- List of cervids
- List of cingulates
- List of crocidurines
- List of dasyuromorphs
- List of didelphimorphs
- List of diprotodonts
- List of erinaceids
- List of eulipotyphlans
- List of felids
- List of fruit bats
- List of herpestids
- List of hominoids
- List of lagomorphs
- List of leporids
- List of lorisoids
- List of macropodiformes
- List of macroscelids
- List of mammals of Korea
- List of mephitids
- List of mustelids
- List of myosoricines
- List of ochotonids
- List of peramelemorphs
- List of perissodactyls
- List of phalangeriformes
- List of pilosans
- List of pinnipeds
- List of platyrrhines
- List of primates
- List of procyonids
- List of scandentians
- List of soricines
- List of suines
- List of talpids
- List of tarsiiformes
- List of ursids
- List of viverrids
Featured topics
Featured pictures
- File:07. Camel Profile, near Silverton, NSW, 07.07.2007.jpg
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- File:African Bush Elephant.jpg
- File:African elephant warning raised trunk.jpg
- File:Albino Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus.jpg
- File:Antarctic Sound-2016-Brown Bluff–Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) 04.jpg
- File:Antarctic Sound-2016-Brown Bluff–Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) 05.jpg
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- File:Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) female 3 crop.jpg
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- File:Blue Wildebeest, Ngorongoro.jpg
- File:Bos grunniens at Letdar on Annapurna Circuit.jpg
- File:Bos grunniens at Yundrok Yumtso Lake.jpg
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- File:Cattle tyrant (Machetornis rixosa) on Capybara.jpg
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- File:Cow giving birth, in Laos (step by step).jpg
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- File:Drymoreomys albimaculatus 002.jpg
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- File:Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) female 1.jpg
- File:European bison (Bison bonasus) male Białowieza.jpg
- File:Felis silvestris silvestris.jpg
- File:Female impala.jpg
- File:Fighting impalas edit2.jpg
- File:Five-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii).jpg
- File:Galerella sanguinea Zoo Praha 2011-2.jpg
- File:Gemsbok (Oryx gazella) male.jpg
- File:Giraffa camelopardalis head (Profil).jpg
- File:Giraffe Mikumi National Park.jpg
- File:Haeckel Chiroptera.jpg
- File:Hippo pod edit.jpg
- File:Horse anatomy.svg
- File:Humpbackwhale singing.webm
- File:Impala mutualim with birds wide.jpg
- File:Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) 4.jpg
- File:Jaguar (Panthera onca palustris) male Three Brothers River 2.jpg
- File:Koala climbing tree.jpg
- File:Lama glama Laguna Colorada 2.jpg
- File:Lion (Panthera leo) male 6y.jpg
- File:LutraCanadensis fullres.jpg
- File:MC Drei-Finger-Faultier.jpg
- File:Macrocranion tupaiodon 01.jpg
- File:Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus Bruny.jpg
- File:Marmota monax UL 04.jpg
- File:Mother and baby sperm whale.jpg
- File:Mud Cow Racing - Pacu Jawi - West Sumatra, Indonesia.jpg
- File:Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) male.jpg
- File:Oryctolagus cuniculus Tasmania 2.jpg
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- File:Plains Zebra Equus quagga.jpg
- File:Red Panda (24986761703).jpg
- File:Red Panda.JPG
- File:Red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis chrysuros) male Caldas.jpg
- File:Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus koba).jpg
- File:Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) 2.jpg
- File:Sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) adult male.jpg
- File:Sea otter nursing02.jpg
- File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Ursa Major.jpg
- File:Sonoma chipmunk at Samuel P. Taylor State Park.jpg
- File:South-western black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis occidentalis) female.jpg
- File:Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta).jpg
- File:The Monarch of the Glen, Edwin Landseer, 1851.png
- File:Thylogale billardierii.jpg
- File:Topi (Damaliscus lunatus jimela) female.jpg
- File:Tragelaphus strepsiceros ♂ (head).jpg
- File:Ugandan kobs (Kobus kob thomasi) female and calf.jpg
- File:Vombatus ursinus -Maria Island National Park.jpg
- File:Xerus inauris.jpg
- File:Zebra portrait.jpg
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- Arktocara
- Asian elephant
- Aurochs
- Australopithecus deyiremeda
- Australopithecus garhi
- Australopithecus sediba
- Azilestes
- Banteng
- Bare-tailed woolly opossum
- Bat virome
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- Big brown bat
- Billy (pygmy hippo)
- Binky (polar bear)
- Black-footed cat
- Black-tailed jackrabbit
- Black wildebeest
- Blackbuck
- Blue duiker
- Blue wildebeest
- Bohor reedbuck
- Boreray sheep
- Bottlenose dolphin
- Bovidae
- Bramble Cay melomys
- Brown bear
- Brygmophyseter
- California sea lion
- Campbell's dwarf hamster
- Canidae
- Capybara
- Castorocauda
- Cat
- Cattle
- Cheetah
- Chororapithecus
- Christmas Island flying fox
- Cinnamon red bat
- Clouded leopard
- Common eland
- Common vampire bat
- Coyote
- Pigs in culture
- Dark long-tongued bat
- Dibatag
- Dimetrodon
- Diplobune
- Diprotodon
- Doedicurus
- Domestic rabbit
- Domestication of the sheep
- Dromedary
- Dryopithecus
- Dugong
- Dusky dolphin
- Dwarf dog-faced bat
- Dwarf sperm whale
- Egyptian fruit bat
- Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus
- Enhydriodon
- Equus (genus)
- Ethiopian hare
- Ethiopian highland hare
- European polecat
- Evolution of cetaceans
- False killer whale
- Ferret-legging
- Fin whale
- Fisher (animal)
- Flea
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- Four-horned antelope
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- Galulatherium
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- Giant panda
- Gigantopithecus
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- Glyptodon
- Glyptotherium
- Great flying fox
- Grévy's zebra
- Guano
- Hammer-headed bat
- Herdwick
- Herto Man
- Heuglin's gazelle
- Hipposideros besaoka
- Homo rudolfensis
- Homo ergaster
- Homo habilis
- Homo heidelbergensis
- Honduran white bat
- Horse
- Human
- Idaho pocket gopher
- Indian flying fox
- Indian rhinoceros
- Inyo shrew
- Isalo serotine
- Jacob sheep
- Jaguarundi
- Janjucetus
- Japanese serow
- Josephoartigasia
- Jungle cat
- Kenyanthropus
- Kitti's hog-nosed bat
- Klipspringer
- Kogia pusilla
- LACM 149371
- Lagrivea
- Laomaki
- Large Black
- Least weasel
- Leopard
- Lesser kudu
- Little brown bat
- Malagasy hippopotamus
- Mammal
- Manavi long-fingered bat
- Marine mammal
- Marsh shrew
- Meerkat
- Megaherbivore
- Mesozoic mammals of Madagascar
- Microgale macpheei
- Miniopterus brachytragos
- Miniopterus mahafaliensis
- Miniopterus tao
- Miniopterus zapfei
- Mixtotherium
- Monk seal
- Mountain nyala
- Moupin pika
- Muskrat
- Nakalipithecus
- Narwhal
- Natal red rock hare
- Nilgai
- Nyala
- Ocelot
- Ocepeia
- Okapi
- Orcinus citoniensis
- Oribi
- Ortotherium
- Panthera onca mesembrina
- Paranthropus
- Paranthropus aethiopicus
- Paranthropus boisei
- Paranthropus robustus
- Paratheria (mammals)
- Pig
- Pilot whale
- Plains zebra
- Porpoise
- Pteropus
- Pubal
- Pudu
- Pygmy three-toed sloth
- Quoll
- Red fox
- Reigomys
- Rhinogradentia
- Rice's whale
- River dolphin
- Royal antelope
- Saadanius
- Sei whale
- Serval
- Setirostris
- Shetland sheep
- Sirenia
- Sitatunga
- Six-banded armadillo
- Smith's red rock hare
- Snow leopard
- Spectral bat
- Spotted hyena
- Stellaluna
- Stotting
- Sun bear
- Swift fox
- Tamaraw
- Thalassocnus
- Trapalcotherium
- Triaenops goodmani
- Tricolored bat
- Tupaia miocenica
- Turkestan red pika
- UA 8699
- Veratalpa
- Vietnam mouse-deer
- Walrus
- Waterbuck
- Whale
- White-lipped peccary
- Wildebeest
- William Windsor (goat)
- Winter white dwarf hamster
- Xiphodon
- Yarkand hare
- Yellow-bellied marmot
- Yunnan hare
- Zygophyseter
- Pallas's cat
- Sand cat
- Asiatic cheetah
- Scimitar oryx
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A complete list of scientific WikiProjects can be found here. See also Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to classification of biological species.
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External media
- Wilson & Reeders Mammal Species of the World – from Bucknell University
- Mammal Species of the World – from National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
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